File:A-New-Trade-Framework-for-Global-Healthcare-R&D-pbio.0020052.g001.jpg

English: More than three-fourths are classed as having no therapeutic benefit over existing products, so-called ‘me too’ drugs (NIHCM 2002). Less than 1% address diseases that primarily afflict the poor, for which new treatments would have the greatest effect on world healthcare (WHO 2003). Industry trade associations, reports to investors, and data from income tax returns suggest somewhere between 10% and 15% of the $430 billion revenues (reported in 2002) are spent on R&D, but data from regulatory bodies imply that only approximately 2%–3% is actually spent on R&D that leads to new medicines with therapeutic benefits over existing ones, and even this is inflated by research primarily designed to achieve marketing outcomes (Love 2003a; WHO 2003).